


Kamui Pokemon Academy

by Aquilaaqua



Series: Unfinished Works [4]
Category: Danball Senki, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Will not work on completing it, unfinished works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 00:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18325457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquilaaqua/pseuds/Aquilaaqua
Summary: Arata and Vanessa are new students at the Kamui Pokemon Academy. They're dreams are closer than ever now. But with the presence of Team Dawn and the mystery surrounding their classmates, can they succeed?





	Kamui Pokemon Academy

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unfinished idea which I started but never came around to finish it and likely never will.

**Character profiles**

Name: Arata (Lumiose City)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: A red short sleeve jacket over a black T-shirt, brown pants, and black sneakers.

Pokemon: Braixen (Braix), Bulbasaur (Bulb), Riolu (Rio)

* * *

 

Name: Vanessa (Lumiose City)  
Age: 16

Casual Clothes: A long purple shirt with light blue leggings and grey sandals.

Pokemon: Haunter (Haunt), Altaria (Ria), Carbink (Bink)

* * *

 

Name: Yuno (Vaniville Town)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: White tank top with a light green shirt over it, a yellow mini-skirt and light green flats.

Pokemon: Sylveon (Sylvie), Aurorus (Aurora), Kirilia (Lia)

* * *

 

Name: Haruki (Cherrygrove City)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: Beagle long sleeve shirt, dark brown pants and green shoes

Pokemon: Espeon, Totodle, Spinarak

* * *

 

Name: Catherin (Goldenrod City)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: Orange Shirt with brown shorts and brown slippers

Pokemon: Flaffy, Sunkern, Bayleaf

* * *

 

Name: Hikaru (Celestic Town)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: Yellow long sleeve shirt with a white vest over it, blue pants and brown shoes.

Pokemon: Piplup, Abomasnow, Sneasel

* * *

 

Name: Sakuya (Two Island)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: Black T-shirt with brown pants and white shoes

Pokemon: Pichu, Helioptile, Chansey

* * *

 

Name: Mikhail (Fortree City)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: Long sleeve grey jacket over a black vest and white shirt, grey pants and grey shoes.

Pokemon: Nuzleaf, Swellow, Luxray

* * *

 

Name: Muraku (??)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: A plain blue shirt with a dark blue jacket, purple pants, and black shoes

Pokemon: Charmeleon, Beehyem, Cryogonal

* * *

 

Name: Kageto (Sunnyshore City)

Age: 16

Casual Clothes: White shirt with sleeveless beagle sweater over it, black pants and blue sneakers

Pokemon: Glaceon, Magnezon, Porygon

* * *

 

Name: Ran (Pastoria City)  
Age: 17

Casual Clothes: A yellow shirt underneath a smaller red shirt, faded blue jeans and red sneakers

Pokemon: Mienshao, Medicham, Jellicent (male)

* * *

 

Name: Jessica (Santalune City)

Age: 17

Casual Clothes: A black vest over a yellow long sleeve shirt, red pants and white and black shoes.

Pokemon: Chesnaught, Aegislash, Espurr

* * *

 

Name: Hiro (Mauville City)

Age: 17

Casual Clothes: Blue long sleeve shirt with a white vest over it, faded jeans and orange shoes

Pokemon: Pusle, Clamperl, Grovyle

* * *

 

**_Vs Haunter_ **

Vanessa was peeking into the windows of her best friend's house for any sign of life. She could not help but wonder if he forgot the importance of today.

"I guess he over slept again." She sighed to her Haunter, Haunt.

"Haunter, haw." It scratched its head. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared above its head. It took out an alarm clock out of nowhere and set it to thirty seconds. "Haunter!"

"Good idea Haunt." Vanessa giggled. Haunt crackled with laughter and phased up into Arata's room.

Inside, the soon to be victim was sprawled on his bed and his Pokémon were scattered all over either on the floor or on his bed. Haunt silently floated to him and placed the alarm clock by his head. With a satisfied smirk, it phased back outside and gave its trainer a thumbs up.

Vanessa returned the gesture and glanced at her watch. "Three, two, one..."

The sound of a fire alarm blared throughout the house. Then there was a yelp followed by a crash. Vanessa burst out laughing with her Haunter just as the door opened, revealing a dishevelled Arata.

"You could have knocked." He grumbled.

"And where would be the fun of it?" She shot back. "Have you forgotten what day it is today?"

Arata immediately shot up. "Oh yeah. We're going to the school today."

Vanessa nodded. "Yup. Your mom and the professor are waiting for you at the lab. They sent me to fetch you."

"Give me five minutes." Arata sighed and went back inside.

"Well, that went well." Vanessa remarked to Haunt once the door was closed.

"Haw, Haunter." It nodded in agreement.

Soon enough, the door reopened and Arata, now dressed and cleaned up with his pokeballs fastened to his belt, ran out.

"Come on! Last one there is a rotten egg!" He yelled over his shoulder.

"Hey, you're cheating!" Vanessa yelled at him as she started running to catch up with him.

Haunt watched them on and laughed. "Haw hawhaw!"

"I wonder what is taking them so long." Arata’s mother, Darcy, voiced out loud what Vanessa's mother, Maisy, was thinking too.

"I'm sure that they got caught up with their usual antics. So don't worry." Professor Sycamore assured them as he loaded the van with the last of the bags.

"Looks like they're coming." Vanessa's father, Richard, nodded in the direction where a cloud of dust was coming.

Soon enough, Arata and Vanessa arrived in the courtyard of the lab.

"Looks like we arrived at the same time." Vanessa panted out.

Arata groaned and nodded. "The next race will be won by me."

"Nice to see that your here." Professor Sycamore grinned. "Do the both of you have your pokemon?"

"Yup." Arata patted his pokeballs on his belt. Meanwhile, Vanessa was fumbling with her pockets.

"That's weird. I could have sworn that I had all my pokemon."

A hand tapped her shoulder making her turn around.

"HAUNTER!" Her Haunter screamed with a hideous mask covering its face. Arata jumped in shock but Vanessa was unfazed by it.

"Very funny Haunt." She said sarcastically. "Now do you happen to know where my pokeballs are?"

Haunt made a face and reluctantly held them out to her. "Haw."

"Thanks you very much." Vanessa held up its pokeball. "Return." A red light sucked it back into the ball and she smiled at her mother. "All ready to go now."

Her father nodded at her. "Alright, let's go. We got to get to the docks soon."

"Right." All of them loaded into the van and drove off to the docks.

"Now Arata, remember to write and have fun there." Darcy told her son and hugged him. "I'll see you at the summer camp in three months’ time."

"You can count on me being there." Arata assured his mother. "You take care of yourself too."

Not too far away, Vanessa was having a similar farewell with her parents.

"When Haunt evolves, remember to call us and let us know." Her father told her.

"Don't worry, I will. In fact, I will call every week." Vanessa told them. "And you will see me again in the summer."

"We know." Her mother chuckled. "It’s just that seeing our little girl go to another region reminded us that you are growing up."

"Oh, I better get Arata to keep those boys away from you." Her father joked.

"Dad!" Vanessa groaned.

He burst out laughing. "Just kidding. But if you do get a boyfriend, he must pass Arata and my standards."

"Honey, don't tease her on this." Her mother chided her husband seeing their daughter's red face.

"Vanessa, we gotta go now." Arata reminded as he walked up to them.

"Alright. Bye mom, bye dad." She quickly hugged them and followed him to the gangplank.

"Ah! Hold on a minute!" Professor Sycamore exclaimed, stopping them in their tracks. "I just remembered that I have to give this to the both of you." He gave each of them a standard Kalos Pokedex and a Mega Ring to Arata and a Mega Pendant to Vanessa.

"Professor, you don't have to give these to us." Arata quickly protested.

"Nonsense." The professor laughed. "I want to give these to you for all that you have done to help me. In fact, your Rio, Bulb and Haunt will eventually evolve and are able to Mega Evolve. And you will be meeting Pokémon that you have never seen before there. Try to collect the data of those pokemon in the pokedex."

"I guess we can't change your mind." Vanessa shrugged and pocketed the gifts. "Thanks professor."

"Thanks professor." Arata also thanked him and placed the items in his bag. "We're going now. See you in summer."

"I will miss the both of you." The professor placed a hand on the both of them. "But you will gain more knowledge and experience from this. Bye"

"Good bye." Arata and Vanessa waved and boarded the ship.

"This place is so huge!" Arata exclaimed.

Vanessa nodded her head in agreement. "Do you think we can let our Pokémon out here?"

"I don't see any signs saying that we can't, so I'll that it as a yes." Arata grinned and released his Pokémon. "Rio, Braix, Bulb."

His Riolu, Braixen, and Bulbasuar stretched and Arata grinned at Vanessa. "It won't hurt to let them enjoy the trip."

"I guess it won't." Vanessa shrugged and pulled out her pokeballs and released them. "Haunt, Ria, Bink."

Her Hauter, Altaria, and Carbink emerged and almost immediately, Haunt disappeared, no doubt to cause mischief.

"Alright guys." Vanessa clapped her hand to get her remaining two Pokemon's attention. "We're on the ship now. You can explore it if you want but don't cause any trouble. Her Pokémon nodded and scattered off. But Bink did not go too far before it crashed into a Sylveon.

"Car!"

"Sylveon!"

A girl around their age with brown hair tied up into two donuts at the top of her head and green eyes ran up to Sylveon to check on it while Vanessa did the same to Bink. Once Vanessa was sure that Bink was fine, she went over to the Sylveon's owner to apologise.

"I'm very sorry. Bink can get very excited at times.” She apologized. Bink also lowered its head in apology.

"That's alright. No harm was done. I'm Yuno." The brunette extended her hand.

"Vanessa." Vanessa said and shook her hand. "And this is my best friend, Arata."

"Yo." Arata gave her his two finger salute.

"Nice to meet you." Yuno smiled pleasantly. "So, you're going to attend Kamui Pokemon Academy?"

They blinked in surprise. So far none of them had mentioned anything about the school. How could she have known?

Seeing this, Yuno giggled. "Your bags have the school's embalm badge on it. I noticed it since I'm a student from there too."

"Souka." Arata smiled. "Can you tell more about the school?"

"Sure."

"The school is located on an island to the north of Sootopolis City, Corona Town. All students are divided by batches instead of classes according to their age." Yuno explained as they walked down to the cafeteria. "Each trainer is allowed to have only three Pokémon on hand but you can swap pokemon in the storage system anytime. Oh, and our batch teacher is Miss Reina. She's strict but a good teacher but it is best not to get on her bad side."

"Apart from our normal classes, what other activities are there?" Arata enquired.

"We have special battling classes." Yuno explained. "Most of the time, the battles will be determined by Miss Riena or we choose ourselves."

"Wow, sounds awesome." Vanessa remarked as they sat down at a table for lunch.

"Yeah." Arata nodded in agreement.

"So, that's it. The dean can explain more during the back to school assembly." Yuno told them.

"Thanks for telling us this." Arata thanked her and dug into his food. "Why don't we have a battle later?"

"Sounds good to me." Vanessa answered excitedly. They looked at Yuno who shrugged.

"I guess so. It can be a warm up for later. I think I have yet to explain our batch's battling system."

* * *

 

**_Vs Kirlia_ **

"OK guys, return." Arata returned his pokemon back into their balls while Vanessa did the same with hers. After searching for half an hour, they finally found all of their pokemon which were scattered all over the ship.

"So, can you explain what the battle system at the school is?" Vanessa asked Yuno as she led them up to the deck where there is a battle field.

Yuno nodded. "All new students are required to take a trainer aptitude test to gauge their abilities. Each batch has different methods of testing but it generally has something to do with battling. For our batch, all students are grouped into groups of four. You will be assigned to a group and you have to battle your teammates in a one on one battle."

"So what happens if we lose all three of our pokemon?" Arata asked curiously.

"Normally nothing will happen because it is only meant to gauge your ability." Yuno explained. "But, if Miss Reina and your team leader find your performance unsatisfactory, you could be expelled on the spot. But, that rarely happens, so don't worry."

She stopped when they emerged at the deck. "Here we are."

The deck was a few meters wide with a large field for battling.

"So who would go first?" Arata asked.

Vanessa exchanged glance with Yuno. "Why don't you and Arata go first?"

"Sure." Yuno grinned. Arata merely shrugged.

"Fine by me."

"Go Rio!" Arata tossed out a ball with Rio emerging from it.

"Rio!"

"Alright, go Lia!" Yuno threw a pokeball out.

A Kirlia came out and twirled before glaring at Rio. It returned the glare and got into stance. Arata quickly whipped out his pokedex to look up on it.

_"The cheerful spirit of its Trainer gives it energy for its psychokinetic power. It spins and dances when happy."_

Arata read the information over again and began to work up a strategy against it. "Ladies first."

"Lia, use Magical leaf!" Yuno ordered. Lia began twirling around and leaves formed around her. Lia stopped twirling and raised its hands sending the leaves flying to Rio.

"Use Force Palm!"

Rio's hands glowed and it knocked away the leaves quickly before they can touch it.

"Now use Quick Attack!" Arata told it.

With blinding speed, Rio darted around Lia and slammed into it.

"Lia, stand up!" Yuno cried. "Confusion!"

Lia's eyes started glowing blue and Rio was surrounded by the same blue aura. Rio gasped and struggled to free itself but Lia's hold on it was too strong. Lia then raised its hands, flinging it away.

"Rio, you OK?" Arata asked his friend worriedly. It grunted and stood up. "Good. Run around it using Quick Attack!"

Rio dashed again and this time encircling Lia but not attacking it.

Yuno frowned as she tried to figure out what Arata was doing. "What is he trying to do?"

Meanwhile at the sidelines, Vanessa had a small smile, knowing what Arata is planning.

Desperate, Yuno called out an attack. "Lia, spin around and use Dazzling Gem! Hurry!"

Lia's body glowed as it twirled, and light was sent flying all over, hitting Rio more than once.

Arata smirked which made Yuno wary. ‘Rio's health is close to nothing, why is he smirking?’

"Rio, Reversal!"

Yuno gasped as Rio struck down Lia, sending it flying and creating a cloud of dust when it landed. When the dust cleared, they could see that its eyes were swirled, indicating that it fainted.

"We did it Rio!" Arata cheered, pumping up his fist.

Rio smiled and mimicked his actions. "Rio!"

Yuno watched them for a moment and smiled. "Lia, return." She held out Lia's pokeball and it was sucked back in. "You did great out there. Have a good rest."

"Good battle you two." Vanessa praised as she walked out to Arata's side.

"Thanks. Do you want to have your turn now?" Yuno asked her.

"Sure, why not?" Vanessa smirked and took Arata's place on the end of the field. Arata gave her a thumbs up and watched at the side.

"Ria, come out!"

"Your turn to shine, Aurora!"

Ria and Aurora, an Aurorus, appeared on the field. Like Arata, Vanessa checked on Aurorus on her pokedex.

_"Using its diamond-shaped crystals, it can instantly create a wall of ice to block an opponent's attack."_

"Quite an interesting pairing. This should be fun." Arata remarked from the sidelines.

"Ria, fly up into the sky." Vanessa gave the first order. With astounding speed, Ria flew up into the sky until they could not see it anymore.

"Aurora, you have to find it." Yuno ordered as she scanned the clouds for any signs of the Altaria.

"You can't find it that easily." Vanessa called from the other end of the field. "Ria has blend in with the clouds. You can't see her at all."

Yuno gritted her teeth. "In that case, use Blizzard at the clouds!"

Aurora opened its mouth and sent out the attack randomly in the sky, hoping to find its opponent, but had no success.

"Ria, Aerial Ace!" Vanessa yelled.

Up in the clouds, Ria did a somersault and plunged at Aurora at high speed.

"Aurora, wait for it to come closer." Yuno instructed it.

Just as Ria was a few inches away, Aurora opened its mouth and sent an Ice Beam at it. Ria turned to evade it but was not fast enough and the Ice Beam hit its wing, freezing it and sending it plummeting down.

Vanessa desperately called out an order. "Ria, Refresh! Hurry!"

"Aurora, use Blizzard!" Yuno called out at the same time.

Ria began to glow and the ice on Ria's wing started melting just as Aurora began charging up Blizzard.

"Keep going." Vanessa encouraged her pokemon.

Suddenly, Aurora finished charging up the Blizzard and shot it at Ria.

"Ria!" Vanessa cried as the Blizzard covered the whole field. When the Blizzard settled though, they could not see it anywhere.

"Where is it?" Yuno looked around frantically. A cry made her look up to see Ria flying up in the sky.

"Aurora, use Ice Beam!" Yuno quickly called.

"Dragon Dance!"

Ria waved its wings and dodged the barged of Ice Beam with its boost of speed.

"Great, used Sky Attack!"

Ria quickly swooped down and struck Aurora's backside.

"Are you alright?" Yuno asked her pokemon worriedly. It grunted and slowly got up.

"Now fly back up into the sky." Vanessa instructed.

"Don't let it!" Yuno cried. "Sheer Cold!"

Vanessa watch in horror as the attack hit and froze Ria. "Ria!"

"Altaria..." It cooed with swirls in its eyes.

Vanessa sighed and returned it into its pokeball. "You were great out there. I'm proud of you." She smiled and went over to the Yuno who had returned Aurora. "You're pretty good out there."

"Thanks." Yuno beamed. "But had I not used Sheer Cold, you might have won."

"I doubt that." Vanessa chuckled.

"That was an awesome battle!" Arata exclaimed. "You two were great out there!"

"Thanks, Arata. Let's go to the PokemonCenter at the fourth floor to get our pokemon healed." Yuno suggested.

As they were waiting for their Pokémon to be healed, Yuno asked them a few questions about them.

"So Arata wants to be a pokemon researcher while you want to be a gym leader." Yuno said in awe.

"Yeah." Vanessa nodded. "My aunt is Olympia, Anistar City's gym leader. So, I wanted to follow her footsteps a long time ago."

"So, what is your ambition?" Arata asked Yuno.

Yuno grinned and struck a pose. "I want to be a top coordinator. I just love the sensation to be on stage with my pokemon and creating appeals with them."

"I take it that you have entered contests before."

Yuno nodded. "Yup. I took part in one in Verdanturf town a couple months ago."

"Cool. I would like to see you perform one day." Arata told her.

"I'll look forward to that." Yuno winked at him.

* * *

 

**_Vs Braixen_ **

Two nights after the battle, the ship finally docked at Slateport City. Before they could even take in the sights of the city, Yuno dragged them onto another boat that will take them to Corona Town.

"I wonder how Yuno can be this fast." Arata muttered to Braix who nodded in agreement. Vanessa sighed beside him and looked around for the said girl. After pulling them on board, she ran off to who knows where, leaving them to their own devices.

"It looks like we're on our own for now."

Arata looked around too and took in the sight of various trainers and their pokemon. "It's amazing that many strong trainers are going to be at the school and we can battle them."

"You're right." Vanessa nodded as she surveyed them.

"Arata! Vanessa!" Yuno called as she ran towards them with two more trainers behind her. One of them is a short blond girl with reddish eyes while the other one is a fairly tall boy with brown hair and dark green eyes.

"This is Catherine, my group leader, and Haruki, the batch monitor and one of the group leaders." She introduced them.

"Hi." Catherine waved while Haruki only nodded.

"Nice to meet you." Arata greeted. "I'm Arata and this is Vanessa. We're from Lumiose City."

"Hi there." Vanessa waved.

"Oh, you are the two new students that Miss Reina was talking about!" Catherine squealed. Haruki did not say anything but nodded in greeting at them.

"Braixen." Braix yawned, disinterested with the new company.

Haruki raised an eyebrow and came closer to have a look at it. "It's rare to see Pokémon from Kalos other than Yuno's."

Arata grinned and held up his pokedex to show Haruki Brai's information. "This is Braixen, the second form of Fennekin, one of the three starter Pokémon of Kalos."

"So what is your starter pokemon?" Catherine turned to Vanessa who sweatdropped.

"Um, about that..."

"Haw." Haunt appeared beside Catherine with a grin and a flower in its hand.

"...you're looking at it."

Catherine and Haruki blinked in surprise. Haunt's grin widened and handed Catherine the flower.

"Oh, thank you-ah!" She yelped when the flower squirted water at her face. Haunt bursted out laughing while Arata sniggered behind his hand which was covering his mouth. Yuno handed a tissue to the fuming girl as she glared at the pranking pokemon.

"Sorry about that." Vanessa quickly apologized. "Haunt, go back into your pokeball." She said as the red light absorbed it back into its pokeball. "Haunt is obsessed with playing pranks on others especially new people."

"Well, no harm was done." Yuno said quickly and changed the subject. "Hey, I heard that Diantha was recently asked to star in a new movie."

Catherine immediately forgot about her anger at the pranking pokemon. "What movie is she staring in?!"

Vanessa tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think it is..."

As the girls talked about Diantha and her upcoming movie, Haruki and Arata moved to the deck to talk more about their Pokémon.

"It's nice to see Pokémon from other regions. I don't think I have seen most of the pokemon in Kalos and Unova." Haruki remarked.

"Well, if you are ever interested in coming to Kalos, you can ask us to give you a tour." Arata grinned.

"I'll hold you to that." Haruki smirked. "So, what made you decide to attend the school?"

"Professor Sycamore suggested it." Arata shrugged. "He's my mom and Vanessa's parents boss, so we're close to him."

"I see." Haruki nodded. "Normally students who are from regions far away were recommended by informative outsiders."

"Which region are you from?" Arata asked curiously.

"Jotoh." Haruki stated. "I heard from Yuno that you want to be a pokemon researcher specialized Mega Evolution."

"Yup." Arata nodded in confirmation. "Ever since I saw Diantha'sGardevoir Mega Evolve, I really wanted to understand more about it."

"I see. So..."

They continued talking and before they know it, they were already at Corona Town.

"Welcome back everyone." Miss Reina greeted the class. "As some of you know, we have two new students here,Arata and Vanessa from Lumiose City." She gestured to them beside her. "Please welcome them and treat them well. After school, we will have the trainer's aptitude test for them."

Then, she pointed at two empty seats at the back of the class. "Arata, you may take the seat beside Hikaru, and Vanessa may take the one in front of Mikhail."

They nodded and took their seats.

"Hi." Mikhail whispered to Vanessa as she took her seat. "Welcome to Pokémon High."

"Thanks." She whispered back.

Meanwhile, Arata was not so lucky. Hikaru had pointedly ignored him all the time and Arata wondered if he had done anything to offend him.

"Arata, you will be part of Haruki's group. Vanessa, you are in Muraku's." Miss Reina told them. "Arata will go first."

Arata nodded with a grin and stepped onto the battle field with a pokeball in hand. Across from him, Haruki and his group members were gathered and he could see Hikaru and recognised Sakuya from what Yuno told him about him.

Miss Reina took her place at the side of the field. "The one on one battle between Arata and Sakuya will now begin. Trainers, call out your pokemon."

Sakuya nodded and stepped into the trainer's box.

"Let's go Braix!"

"Come on out, Chansey!"

The two Pokémon emerged on the field and got ready.

"Go!"

"Riolu!" Rio cried as it landed hard on the ground after Hikaru'sPiplup had used Bide on it.

"Riolu is unable to battle. Hikaru and Piplup win the battle." Miss Reina declared.

"Thanks Rio. You were great out there." Arata sighed as he recalled Rio. So far, he had one win and two losses. After defeating Sakuya'sChansey, he lost against Haruki's Totodile with Bulb, much to its embarrassment; and now, Rio lost to Hikaru'sPiplup.

"You were pretty good out there." Vanessa told him when he when he sat down on the ground beside her.

"Thanks, but I'm fairly sure that you'll do better." Arata remarked offhandedly. "So who are up against?"

"Muraku, Mikhail, and Kageto." She listed off.

"Wow." Arata raised his eyebrow. "I heard that they are the toughest in our batch."

"Tell me about it." She muttered. "It would be a miracle if I could actually defeat all of them."

"Vanessa, please step into the trainer's box." Miss Reina called. "Your test is about to start."

"Hai." Vanessa got up and brushed off her leggings. "Wish me luck."

Arata grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Good luck. Hope you'll do better than me."

"I hope so too." Vanessa muttered as she took her position. Across from her, her first opponent, Kageto, was holding his pokeball with a bored look.

"The one on one battle between Vanessa and Kageto will now begin. Trainers, call out your pokemon."

"Porygon, time for battle."

"Bink, do your best!"

As soon as the two pokemon materialized, Miss Reina brought down her hand. "Go!"

"Charmeleon, use Fire Fang." Muraku calmly commanded.

"Char!" Charmeleon's fangs lit up and it brought them down on Haunt.

"Haunter!" Haunt cried out in pain and floated to the ground.

"Haunter is unable to battle. Muraku and Charmeleon win the battle." Miss Reina announced.

Vanessa sighed and recalled Haunt. Her battles against Kageto and Mikhail were more of a walk in the park compare to her battle with Muraku.

"Your pokemon are well trained."

Vanessa blinked and looked up at Muraku who spoke.

"They have a lot of potential. You should make most of them." Muraku continued. "I hope that you will work hard now that you are part of my group."

Vanessa's face became determined and nodded. "Hai."

"Vanessa, you have earned a B." Miss Reina spoke to her. "Arata, you have earned a C+."

Vanessa smirked at Arata who steadfast ignored her. "Guess I really did better than you."

"...Shut up."

"...Targets are confirmed. They have the key stones as you said." One of the two figures who were hiding in the corner of the school grounds. They were talking to someone on a communicator.

_"Good...continue to keep an eye on them but do not, I repeat, do not attempt to steal them...not until they have written up the mega evolution reports."_ The person on the line instructed.

"Understood."

The person on the line hung up and the two figured walked back to the school, unseen by anyone.

* * *

 

**_Vs Charmeleon &Cryogonal_ **

A few weeks later we see Arata and Vanessa awake early and battling in the woods near the dorms.

"Rio, use Force Palm!" Arata instructed.

"Bink, dodge it." Vanessa warned it.

It immediately floated out of the way as Rio got near to it.

Rio halted into a stop and changed direction towards Bink. It held up its palm and slammed it into Bink, sending it floating a short distance away.

"Bink, steady yourself and use Moonblast!"

"Rio, use Focus Blast!"

The two Pokémon fired their attacks but they passed by each other and struck their targets. Both pokemon collapsed and did not get up.

"A draw...again." Arata deadpanned and picked up Rio.

"Yup." Vanessa said and gathered Bink in her arms.

"But, you really did get stronger. I can tell you that." Arata smiled.

Vanessa merely shrugged. "Muraku has been pushing me to get stronger so Mikhail helped me prepare a schedule for training my pokemon...though Haunt seldom appears for it."

The said pokemon materialized beside Arata at the mentioned at its name and grinned at her. "Haw hawhaw!"

"Don't think that it is a good thing to take the training lightly, Haunt." Vanessa said sternly. "If you don't want to train, how would you get back at Muraku's Charmeleon?"

It pouted and waved its hands in protest. "Haunter haw!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Return."

And Haunt disappeared back into its ball.

Arata smirked. "I can only imagine how difficult it is to get through it."

"Tell me about it." Vanessa groaned. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry and would like to grab breakfast before class starts."

Arata's stomach growled as an answer. He turned red and set down Rio. "I think my stomach says yes."

Vanessa laughed and grew thoughtful. "So, do you feel that Bulb is getting stronger?"

Arata nodded. "Yup. In fact, I think it's going to evolve soon..."

They continued walking back, unaware that two people were watching them behind the trees.

"Rio?" Rio spun around as it sensed something but could not see anyone.

"Rio, come on." Arata called it. It gave one last look at the place where he sensed but shrugged and caught up with its trainer.

* * *

 

"Today, all of you will be randomly paired with another student and have a double battle against your partner." Miss Reina announced.

There was a slight groan from the students as they got up from their seats and assembled at the field.

"What's wrong with double battles?" Arata whispered to Haruki.

"Double battles is not exactly a strong forte of most of the students." Haruki admitted. "Most of the time we have single battles or pairing up with another person but Miss Reina seldom sets up double battles."

"I see." Arata glanced back at Miss Reina who was holding a box to Muraku to draw an opponent.

Muraku drew out a paper and read out the name. "Arata."

Arata and Haruki jumped but for different reasons. Arata because he was surprised to be paired up this quick and Haruki because he was going to battle Muraku. Even Vanessa was surprise at this.

As Miss Reina continued to pair up the other students, Muraku was glaring at Arata the whole time. Arata gulped and prayed that he won't be too harsh on his pokemon.

* * *

 

"The battle between Arata and Muraku will begin now. Trainers, choose your pokemon."

Muraku calmly called out Charmeleon and Cryogonal while Arata chose Bulb and Rio much to everyone's surprise and murmurs broke out.

"Oi, isn't he going to use his Braixen?"

"It's true that it would be the better choice."

"Don't tell me he doesn't know anything about pokemon types." Someone sneered.

Vanessa rolled her eyes at that statement. Arata was ten times smarter than any of them put together but has the weirdest way of expressing it. All the same, she could not understand his choice of choosing Bulb but she trusted that he has a plan.

'...masaka?!' She blinked remembering their conversation from that morning.

"Begin!"

"Rio use Force Palm on Cryogonal! Bulb, use Vine Whip!"

Bulb's vines emerged from the bud on its back and one of them picked up Rio, throwing it at Cryogonal and the other wrapped around Charmeleon to immobilize it.

"Cryogonal, use your chains to throw Riolu off. Charmeleon, use Fire Fang on the vines." Muraku calmly ordered.

Cryogonal swung its ice chains at Rio sending it flying away before it could touch it. Charmeleon sank its fangs which were ignited into the vine holding it, making Bulb flinch and withdraw the vine.

"Bulb! Rio! Are you guys OK?"

They stood up and grunted. Arata grinned. "OK, Bulb, use your Petal Dance vortex!"

A large amount of petals emerged from the bud on Bulb and swirled around Cryogonal and Chatmeleon, trapping them in a vortex.

Murmurs of amazement broke out from the audience.

"He can use Petal Dance like that?" Yuno exclaimed.

"Yup." Vanessa grinned. "It's a tactic that he came up with a while ago."

"Charmeleon, Flamethrower." Muraku called.

Charmeleon took a deep breath and spit out flames from its mouth on to the vortex, burning the petals down. But, as they floated down, a large number of the burning petals landed on Cryogonal, making it cry in pain. Everyone gasped at this.

"Cryogonal is burnt by the petals." Catherine gapped out

"Masaka, Arata intended to have Muraku burn the petals to injure Cryogonal?" Sakuya wondered.

"I would not be surprise if it really was his idea." Vanessa remarked and frowned. "But I won't be surprise either if Muraku knew it and still had Charmeleon use Flamethrower deliberately."

"Rio give them a Focus Blast. Bulb, use Razor Leaf!"

The two pokemon were unable to dodge the attacks took some damage.

"Charmeleon, use Fire Fang. Cryogonal, use Ice Beam."

Charmeleon's fangs became red again and it clammed them down on Bulb. Cryogonal opened its mouth and shot a beam which froze Rio's feet in place. Bulb cried out in pain as its health was draining quickly. Rio desperately used Force Palm on the ice to break itself out and help its friend.

"Bulb hang on!" Arata pleaded.

"Finish it off!" Muraku told Charmeleon. At this, it tightened its fangs on Bulb.

"Bulbasaur!" Bulb started glowing and suddenly, its form changed into Ivysaur! It used its vines to throw off Charmeleon into Cryogonal.

"Bulb has evolved!" Vanessa cheered.

Arata smirked and wasted no time. "Rio, use Force Palm on Cryogonal!"

Rio's palm glowed and slammed it straight into Cryogonal's face. It staggered for a moment before it winced in pain and fell on the ground, fainted.

"Cryogonal is unable to battle." The refery declared.

Muraku silently recalled it and nodded at Charmeleon. "Fire Pledge."

A pillar of fire emerged and inched towards Rio who was frozen in place, too afraid to move.

“Rio, get out of there!” Arata called out frantically but Rio’s legs refused to move. Just at the last minute, Bulb jumped in front of it and took the attack head on.

  “Bulb!”

  When the smoke cleared, Bulb was barely standing and had nasty burns on its face. Arata frowned worriedly. “Bulb, are you alright?”

  It grunted and nudged Rio to see if it was alright. Rio nodded and narrowed its eyes in determination at Charmeleon.

  “Finish them!” Muraku snapped. “Flamethrower!”

Flames shot out of its mouth straight at Bulb and Rio but much to everyone’s surprise, Bulb extended its vines and slammed them on the ground, making it jump high enough to avoid the flames while Rio did some cartwheels to avoid them.

Muraku smirked. “Finish Ivysaur off with Flame Burst!”

  At Muraku’s command, a kanji formed and hit straight at Bulb’s face. It cried out in pain and landed on the ground, fainted.

“Ivysaur is unable to battle.”

Arata quickly recalled it and nodded at Rio. “Reversal!”

  Rio leapt forward at Charmeleon although it knew how risky this strategy was given that Charmeleon could easily defeat it like this. But much to its dismay, Charmeleon waited until it got closer and used Fire Fang on it. Rio twitched in pain but could not escape the fire lizard’s strong jaws. Satisfied, Charmeleon flung Rio across the field, fainted.

  “Riolu is unable to battle. Therefore the winner of this battle is Muraku.”

  “Rio...” Rio hung its head dejectedly. Arata went up to it and gathered it in his arms.

  “Don’t worry Rio, you and Bulb...no, Ivy did your best. So I’m proud of you two.” He assured it.

Muraku observed the way he handled his pokemon before recalling Charmeleon, promising to let it rest for the rest of the day with Cryogonal.

* * *

 

  “I was a bit worried when Bulb had fainted.” Vanessa remarked as she and Arata sat on a table outside the dormitories filling up some reports for Professor Sycamore.

  “It’s Ivy now.” Arata corrected her, holding up its pokeball.

  Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Alright, Ivy it is. So as I was saying, I was worried when Ivy fainted but the good thing that came out of it was that it managed to take on two pokemon with a type advantage and yet defeat one of them. On top of it, it evolved. Which reminds me, did you choose it because you knew that it was going to evolve?”

“Yeah.” Arata admitted. “I was also hoping that it would benefit it to also face pokemon which has a type advantage against it since its only sparing opponents are usually Braix, Haunt and Riato help it overcome its type disadvantage.”

  Vanessa slowly nodded in understanding and lightly punched his arm. “You are a way reckless trainer. It’s a wonder how your pokemon can put up with your antics.”

  They shared a laugh but quickly straightened up when they spotted Muraku coming up to them.

  “Oh, Muraku.” Arata nodded in acknowledgement.

  “Arata, you are the first person in this school to defeat one of my pokemon. From now on, I will consider you as a rival.” Once he was done, Muraku turned around and went back to the dorms. Arata and Vanessa watched him with their mouths open.

  “What just happened?” Vanessa wondered out loud.

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” Arata tilted his head in confusion. “Anyway, we better get these reports done by tonight. The professor would flip if we do not send them in on time again.”

  “Yeah.” Vanessa nodded in agreement and they buried their heads back into their reports but they could not take off Muraku’s words from their minds.

* * *

 

**_Vs Lapras_ **

 “Just who in the world thought that hiking out to Gulf Peak at the crack of dawn would be a good idea?!” Catherin grumbled as she and Yuno followed Arata and Vanessa who were strangely unfazed by the long five mile hike up to the north most point of the island.

  “You.” Arata and Vanessa said at the same time. How did this happen? Well, just last Wednesday...

* * *

 

_“Arata, Vanessa, it is good to hear from you two again.” Professor Sycamore greeted them when they contacted him after school that day._

_“It’s good to see you too.” Arata said. “We’ll be sending the reports over this evening just so you know but it might take a while before they arrive.”_

_“Alright. By the way, if you are not busy this weekend, can you help a friend of mine run an errand?” The professor requested._

_Arata and Vanessa exchanged glances and shrugged. “Sure, why not?”_

_The professor beamed. “Then allow me to introduce Mirana. She’s apokemon biologist who is working with me at the moment.”_

_A middle age lady with green hair and orange eyes appeared on the screen beside Professor Sycamore. “Vanessa, Arata, it’s good to finally meet you. Professor Sycamore holds the both of you in high regard.”_

_“It’s great to meet you too.” Arata said. “What is the errand you need us to help you with?”_

_“Well, currently, I’m tracking a group of Lapras which often travels to Hoenn from Undella Town in Unova. However, for the past few days, they have been staying at the tip of island you are on, Gulf Point as I believe it’s called. This is unnatural as they only stop in one spot for only a night or two to rest.” Mirana explained. “I would have gone over to check on them but I’m afraid that I only get a shiptomorrow. So will you help me see to them before I arrive at the island?”_

_“Sure.” Vanessa immediately agreed. “We’ll do whatever we can about the situation.”_

_“Very well then. I wish the both of you good luck.” Mirana bid them farewell and allowed Professor Sycamore to return on the screen._

_“I wish the both of you good luck. And don’t forget, I will be here if you need anything.”_

_“Alright professor. We’ll talk about this again some other time.” Vanessa said, flicking her eyes at the students who just entered the common room. “We got to go now. Bye.”_

_“I’ll talk to the both of you again soon.” The professor saluted and the screen went black._

_“So who was that?” Yuno asked the both of them as they went to sit at the table._

_“That was Professor Sycamore.” Arata said. “We usually check in with him every other week or so.”_

_“Oh, by the way Vanessa, can we have a battle this Saturday?” Catherin requested. “I want to see your Altaria in action again! And maybe you could help me train Sunkern too!”_

_“This Saturday...” Vanessa exchanged glances with Arata and gave Catherin an apologetic smile. “Sorry, but Arata and I have something we need to do that day.”_

_Catherin’s face became downcast. “Eh!? What is it that is so important that you cannot help a friend!?”_

_“We promised a friend of Professor Sycamore that we would check out a group of Lapras which is supposedly staying at Gulf Peak.” She explained._

_“Then can we come along?” Catherin requested, pulling Yuno’s arm to significant that the both of them wanted to come along. Yuno looked sheepish at Catherin’s statement but truth to be told, she really wanted to go with them too._

_“Um...” Arata and Vanessa exchanged uneasy glances. Finally, Arata relented. “Fine, but stick by our side at all times and if we want to do something, please don’t disturb us.”_

_“Alright!” Catherin and Yuno cheered._

_“Why do I have a feeling that it will be a long trek this Saturday?” Vanessa muttered to Arata._

_“The feeling is mutual. I might even regret letting them come along.” Arata admitted._

* * *

 

  “Can we take a break now?” Catherin panted beside Yuno who was in a no better shape that she was.

  “We took one fifteen minutes ago.” Vanessa reminded them.

  “Then can we have another one?” She requested again.

  “At this rate we won’t reach Gulf Peak until sunset.” Arata sighed. He sat down and took a bottle out of his pack and drank from it. “I suppose one minute wouldn’t hurt.”

  “How can the both of you still keep on going after all this?” Yuno wondered.

  “We’re used to it.” Vanessa sighed. “Professor Sycamore likes to send us out on assignments all over Kalos. It does pay to be physically fit to do that.”

  “I thought people like you guys would stay cooped up in a lab or some sort and never come out.” Catherin mumbled.

  “That’s not entirely true. Professor and our parents like to go to the gym every week to work out and although there are times we don’t leave the lab for days, we do train a lot with the local gym leader...” Vanessa trailed off when Arata held up a hand. A little while later, she heard something too. “Is that...”

  “Yeah.” Arata nodded. “It’s the Lapras and it doesn’t sound good. Come on!”

  They quickly got up and ran towards the sound. Yuno scrambled to her feet and followed them. Catherin on the other hand was too tired to catch up with them and dragged her feet along the road as she trailed behind them.

* * *

 

 As soon as Arata, Vanessa and Yuno broke into the cove where the Lapras were indicated to be, they were met with the sight of a dozen Lapras who do not look very well. Most of them were weak and barely had the strength to even look up at them.

  “What happened to them?” Vanessa gasped.

“I don’t know, but by the looks of it, they are starving.” Arata said as he looked around.

  “Wait, isn’t suppose to be high tide by now?” Yuno wondered in puzzlement.

Arata gasped and looked at the schedule on his Holo Caster. “You’re right. But the shore is still dry and the sea level it not rising at all.”

  Vanessa scanned the area around the cove and frowned. “I think I found the reason why the tide is not coming in. Look.” She pointed at a pile of rocks at what seems to be once the entrance of the cove. “The cliff above the entrance must have collapsed, trapping the Lapras and preventing the tide from coming in.”

“Then the Lapras must have run out of food and because of that, are in this state now.” Arata concluded.

“What should we do?” Yuno asked worriedly.

  “What are you guys doing?” Catherin asked when she stumbled into the cove.

  “No time to explain. Ria, come out!” Vanessa tossed Ria’s pokeball out. Her favourite pokemon materialized and looked at its trainer, anticipating its orders.

  “Catherin, fly back to town on Ria and fetch Nurse Joy.” Vanessa told the blond.

One look at the starving Lapras was all Catherin needed to hop on the humming pokemon and fly back to town.

  “In the meantime, let’s do what we can to save the Lapras.” Arata said, taking out some pokemon food from his pack.

Vanessa nodded and did the same and handed Yuno a can of it. She slowly approached the largest Lapras which looks to be the leader of the group. It growled as Vanessa came closer.

  “Steady, I’m not going to hurt you.” Vanessa said in a soft comforting tone. “I just want to help.” She slowly extended her hand with pokemon food on it to the Lapras. It eyed her suspiciously for a moment and carefully sniffed the food on her hand. Once it deemed it safe to consume, it ate the pokemon food. The suspicious look is still in its eyes but it seems to no longer distrust her. The leader Lapras shifted its eyes across each member of its group and let out a cry.

Eventually, almost all of the Lapras swam over to the three trainers and accepted food from them. However, at the edge of the cove were two Lapras which did not move at all. The larger of the duo was too weak to move and the smaller one, its child, refused to leave its side. Arata watched them worriedly and turned to the leader. “Can you bring me over to them?” He asked pointing at the mother and child.

  The leader nodded and positioned itself so that Arata can hop on its back. But when the child Lapras saw them approaching, it growled, thinking that Arata is an enemy.

  “It’s alright, I want to help.” Arata gently assured it. It stared at it for a few seconds and back at its mother. Finally, it relented and allowed Arata to get closer to its mother.

  “Thank you.” Arata nodded at it and gave some food to the mother. Then, he turned to the child and gave it the leftovers. “Here, you need it too.”

After both Lapras consumed the pokemon food and regained some strength, they followed the leader back to the shore where Catherin had returned with Nurse Joy and surprisingly, Mirana.

* * *

 

  “It’s a good thing you found them when you did.” Nurse Joy was telling the girls as Arata got close enough to hear them. “Had you not, I doubt that the Lapras would make it.”

“Does this mean that they will recover soon?” Yuno asked hopefully.

  “Indeed, but they are still malnourished. I’ll try and coax the leader to stay for a few more days so that all of them can recover. Hopefully he still remembers me.” Mirana suggested and went over to talk to the leader while Vanessa, Yuno and Catherin helped Nurse Joy with taking care of the rest of the Lapras.

Arata on the other hand was chatting with the child Lapras that he had coaxed.

  “You look a lot better now that you have eaten.” Arata said as he stroked the Lapras. It cooed and headbutt him affectionately, making him chuckle.

  “Alright, there is good news.” Mirana announced. “The leader agreed to stay until all the Lapras recovers. But we have to remove the rocks at the entrance so that they can swim to the eastern side of the island where the pokemon centre is so that Nurse Joy can keep an eye on them.”

“Alright. Ria, come here.” Vanessa called to her pokemon which was flying around the sky at the moment. It hummed and swooped down to its trainer. She hopped on its back and patted it. “We have to destroy those rocks to free the Lapras. Are you up to it?”

It cooed and nodded. Soon, they were flying overhead of the rocks.

  “Ria, Dragon Breath!” The move instantly demolished the rocks and ocean water started to sweep into the cove.

  “Great job Ria!” Arata cheered. Mirana and Nurse Joy hopped on the leader Lapras back as the heard began to swim out of the cove.

 “We’ll go with them to make sure nothing happens along the way. You kids better head back to your dorms.” Nurse Joy told them.

  “Hai.”

   “I’ll see the both of you again soon.” Mirana told Arata and Vanessa.

  “Sure. We better tell Professor Sycamore of what happened too. Right?” Arata asked his best friend who looked to be deep in thought.

  Vanessa snapped out of her thoughts and nodded. “Yeah.”

* * *

 

“That was some adventure!” Catherin exclaimed on the way back.

 “We got to meet those Lapras and help them.” Yuno smiled.

  “Vanessa, what’s on your mind?” Arata whispered at his friend, noticing that she was thinking of something.

  “I think someone deliberately collapsed the cliff to trap the Lapras.” She whispered back.

  “Eh? How can that be?”

  “When Ria and I were destroying the rocks, I saw some scorch marks at the cliffs and surrounding area.” Vanessa said thoughtfully. “My guess is that someone used explosives to collapse the cliff and trapped the Lapras heard.”

Arata frowned at this revelation. “Who would have done such a thing to the Lapras?”

  “I don’t know. But it’s best to keep it between us.” Vanessa suggested. “The less people knowing this, the better.”

  “I suppose so.” Arata nodded in agreement.

 

  Up in the trees, a figure clenched his fist. “They are smarter than they look. They cannot be allowed to interfere with our plans anymore.”

 

* * *

 

**_Vs Pichu_ **

  “Ice Beam!” Hikaru ordered his Abomasnow.

    “Send it back with Psychic!” Haruki told Espeon.

  The ice beam was redirected at Abomasnow as the gem on Espeon’s forehead glowed. Abomasnow braced itself from the attack and went in for a Hammer Arm.

  “They have gotten stronger.” Sakuya said in awe. He grinned at Pichu which was sitting beside him and nodded to himself. “I must get stronger too.”

  “Hey, Sakuya.” Arata greeted his teammate as he sat down beside him and watched the battle. “Have you seen Vanessa?”

Sakuya shook his head after some thought. “I don’t think I have seen her all day. Why?”

  “I need to remind her that we have to pass up our reports of the Lapras heard we saved last week or Professor Sycamore would get mad...again.” Arata sighed.

  “Oh, I see.” Sakuyasweatdropped. They watched Hikaru and Haruki battle for a few moments before Sakuya asked a question that has been on his mind. “What is life like being Professor Sycamore’s aide?”

  “Oh, it can be a bit boring at times when we have nothing new to research on. But when there is a new discovery, we usually have a lot of paperwork on our hands.” Arata told him. “But there are times where the professor would send us on assignments all over Kalos and occasionally other regions. Normally it is to retrieve an item or another.”

  “Do you prefer travelling or staying at the lab?” Sakuya asked curiously.

Arata thought for a while and smiled. “I like travelling just as much as I like staying at the lab. It’s through travelling with Vanessa that I managed to obtain most of my pokemon that I wouldn’t otherwise. And my passion is to uncover the mysteries of mega evolution, so I don’t mind staying at the lab if it means getting one step closer to it.”

  “So you prefer travelling with Vanessa.” Sakuya stated with a sly smile.

Aratablushed at what Sakuya was implying and quickly shook his head. “Vanessa has been my best friend since we were young so in a way, I see her as a sister and she sees me as a brother.”

  “Suit yourself.” Sakuya said teasingly. “By the way, if you are free, can you help me train Pichu so that we can become stronger?”

Arata contemplated on it for a second and nodded. “Sure. I’ve already completed my reports, so I can help. Vanessa is probably somewhere typing her report anyway.”

* * *

 

  As a matter of fact, Vanessa was in the library at school with her laptop on the table in front of her with a stack of papers from Mirana about the Lapras after they had recovered. She drummed her fingers on the table as she pondered on something.

  ‘Why in the world would someone want to treat the Lapras cruelly?’ She thought sadly and proofread her report. Like she told Arata, less people knowing that someone deliberately trapped the Lapras, the better. But all the same, she knew that Professor Sycamore deserved to know at least.

  “What should I do?” She sighed.

  “Troubling homework?”

  Vanessa jumped and spun around in her chair. “Mikhail, don’t sneak up like that!”

  Mikhail smiled and sat down beside her. “Sorry about that but you were sitting here for a while now so I thought that I would say hello.”

   “Oh.” Vanessa muttered and cleared the papers, putting them into her bag.

  “So what are you working on?” Mikhail asked while trying to peek at her laptop but she quickly slammed it shut.

  “Sorry, but it’s private.” She explained and kept it in her bag. “Do you want to grab a cup of coffee at the cafe?”

  “Sure.” Mikhail nodded and they left the library together.

* * *

 

 “Pichu use Thundershock!”Sakuya told his Pichu. But like the last five times, Pichu’sThundershock somehow redirected and shocked Sakuya.

Arata and Rio sweatdropped and exchanged glances. “Wow.”

“Sorry about this.” Sakuya sighed. “Pichu’s attacks always seem to turn on me.”

  “Well, you just have to work on its aim.” Arata told him. “Why don’t we take a break?”

“That sounds good.” Sakuya reluctantly agreed and picked up Pichu which was stunned by its Thundershock.

“I’m jealous of you and your Riolu.” Sakuya admitted as they sat down on the grass beside the field. This made Arata look at him in curiosity.

  “I mean, you two have a close bond and it took me two weeks just to get Pichu to listen to me.” Sakuya continued. “Pichu likes to shock me a lot too.”

Arata and Rio exchanged smiles and he stroked Rio’s head as he spoke, “I don’t know about that. Rio and I did not connect immediately. I still remember Rio pushing me away with Close Combat the first few days after it hatched from an egg.” He chuckled while Rio blushed slightly. “But eventually, it learned to trust me and that’s how our journey as friends began. Sakuya, the important thing about getting a pokemon to trust you is to trust them first. As for Pichu shocking you...I believe it’s its way of showing affection to you.”

Sakuya’s eyes shot up in surprise and observed Pichu which was curled up in his arms taking a nap. “I never knew that.”

  “That’s the thing about pokemon.” Arata grinned. “They have mysterious ways of communicating their feelings to us trainers. And for its aim, why don’t I show you a trick which a friend of mine came up with?”

* * *

 

Sakuya stared at the targets that Arata had set up on one end of the field, having no idea what Arata was planning. “Arata, what are the targets for?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Arata took a pokeball from his belt and tossed it open. “Braix, I need your help.”

Braix shook its fur as it emerged and spat out some flames. “Braixen.”

“Braix, we’re going to help Pichu improve its aim with Thundershock today.” Arata pointed at the targets with his index finger. “Let’s show them what Bonnie came up with!”

Braix howled enthusiastically and shot a stream of flames. Arata held up one finger. “Firstly, you must know what your target is.”

Braix nodded and glared at one of the targets. Arata nodded and continued, “Then have your pokemon gather energy for their attack on one part of their body. This makes it easier to control it. Flamethrower please.”

Braix opened its mouth and gathered its energy for the move there. Arata nodded again in approval. “Good, now make sure your aim is on...and then, fire!”

Braix’s Flamethrower hit bull’s eye at the target it was aiming at and burned it to crisp.Sakuyaand Pichu stared at it in shock and admiration. “Wow...”

  “Good job Braix.” Arata pat his pokemon. “Now it’s your turn Sakuya.”

  “Eh? Me?” Sakuya stuttered.

  “Now that I have showed you the trick, you should give it a try.” Arata explained and walked to the side of the field with Braix. “Good luck.”

Sakuya gulped as he stood where Arata was standing a moment before and set Pichu down. “Ok Pichu, it’s our turn now. Do you remember how Braix did it?”

Pichu enthusiastically nodded and sparks flew from its cheeks. “Pichu!”

  “Alright, use Thundershock!” Sakuya cried, pointing at one of the remaining targets.

  “Pichu!” It nodded and copied Braix’s earlier actions and gathered electricity in its body. Sakuya waited until it finished and nodded. “Aim at the target and fire!”

Pichu growled and fired a Thundershock at the target. However, it served at the last minute and missed it by inches.

  “Ah, it missed...” Sakuya lamented. Pichu hung its head at the fail try.

  “But it’s your first try so there’s nothing surprising there.” Arata said, trying to encourage him. “Not everyone does well on their first try. Keep on practising and you can hit your target.”

  “Thanks a lot Arata.” Sakuya thanked him. “I’m going to practise some more.”

  “Great. I better find Vanessa now.” Arata mused.

* * *

 

  “...So my parents finally gave in and presented Haunt as a present for my eighth birthday.” Vanessa finished her explanation of how she obtained Haunt. “And I caught Bink and Ria on two separate occasions when I was in Anistar City.”

“I see.” Mikhail mused as he stirred his cup of coffee. “I got Swellow and Nuzleaf at Fortree City and Muraku gave me Luxray.”

  “He did?” Vanessa said in surprise.

  “Don’t be surprise.” Mikhail chuckled at her shock look. “Muraku may not be the most expressive person, but he has his own ways of communicating his thoughts of people. For my case, he gave me Luxray as a way to tell me that I need experience in handling pokemon from other regions.”

  “I see.” Vanessa said thoughtfully. A cry of shock made her look up although she had a feeling she knew what would be the disturbance. Just as she guessed, Haunt was floating towards her after phasing through the wall to get into the cafe.

“Haunt Haunter!” It laughed at the two trainers who it scared. The trainers gave Vanessa a dark glare but she glared back just as darkly, daring them to say something. The trainers backed down under her intense glare and resumed doing whatever they were before Haunt startled them.

  “Haunt Haunt...” Haunt trailed off when Vanessa turned her glare on it.

  “Haunt, next time wait outside.” She warned it sternly.

  “Haunt.” Its face dropped. It suddenly lightened up when it saw Mikhail. “Haunt.” It waved and gave it a candy.

  “Thank you.” Mikhail said and took the candy. As he unwrapped the wrapper, there was a small explosion from it and smoke covered his face.

  “Haunt!” Vanessa cried indignantly although her twitching lips betrayed her amusement.

  Haunt crackled with laughter and disappeared. Vanessa sighed before turning her attention back to Mikhail. “Sorry about that.”

  “That’s alright.” Mikhail assured her as he cleaned his face with a napkin.

  The doors suddenly flung open and one of the students from the second batch ran in. “Oi, I heard that Wallace is spotted at the Pokemon Centre just now!”

  Mikhail and Vanessa looked up at that statement. A crowd of trainers in the cafe ran over to him.

  “Maji!?”

  “Is this information true?”

  “It is! Come on!” The group ran out following the student to the pokemon centre.

   “Let’s go see.” Mikhail grabbed Vanessa’s hand and pulled her away from the table.

  “Oi, what’s so exciting about seeing Wallace?” Vanessa complained, trying to get out of Mikhail’s grip.

  “He’s the champion of Hoenn which means we might pick up something if we watch him.” Mikhail pointed out.

  “Point taken.” Vanessa sighed and allowed Mikhail to lead her to the pokemon centre.

* * *

 

  “Elizabeth, use Water Pulse.” Wallace told his Luvdisc. It lifted up into the air and spun around using Water Pulse, creating a beautiful effect of a cascading waterfall.

 “So beautiful!” Several girls in the crowd surrounding the field squealed.

   “As expected from a top coordinator, not to mention a champion!”

  Vanessa suppressed a snort and tilted her head to the side. “What’s so exciting about him? Even Diantha is not as glamorous and she’s a champion _and_ a movie star.”

Mikhail sweatdropped and chuckled a bit. “Each to his own taste.”

  “Everyone, thank you for watching my beautiful performance by Elizabeth.” Wallace bowed. “I know some of you are wondering what I am doing on this island today. Well, my fellow champion, Cynthia and I will be making an appearance at the KamuiPokemon Academy tomorrow. We will be giving a talk to all the students. Trainers from outside the school are also welcomed to attend it.”

The crowd broke out in mummers of the event but all Vanessa did was muttered one word at Mikhail. “Wow.”

* * *

 

  “Alright, well done Espeon.” Haruki said and recalled the sun pokemon and Hikaru did the same with his Abomasnow. “Your Abomasnow’s power has gotten stronger.”

  “And your Espeon’s control is better than before.” Hikaru remarked quietly. A clap made them turn around only to face the Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia!

 “That was a wonderful batter just now.” She remarked. “It’s good to see you again, Hikaru.”

  “I wish I could say the same.” Hikaru bade frostily. “What are you doing here?”

 

* * *

 

**_Vs Gastrodon_ **

Haruki stood by awkwardly and slowly inched away. He cleared his throat to gain their attention. “I’m going to head back to my room first. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Hikaru barely acknowledged him as he continued to glare at Cynthia. “So what are you doing here?”

  “Wallace and I were invited to give a talk tomorrow.” She calmly explained. “I see that you have been getting stronger.”

  “But no strong enough compare to you.” Hikaru muttered under his breath.

  Cynthia merely chuckled and called out her Gastrodon. “You never change. Do you want to test your current strength?”

Hikaru wordlessly took out a pokeball from his pocket and tossed it out. His Sneasel materialized and its lips curved up into a snarl when it spotted Gastrodon.

  “After you.” Cynthia gestured at Sneasel and Hikaru. He wasted no time and ordered Sneasel to use Ice Shard but Gastrodon was too fast and dodged all of the shards. “Water Pulse.”

  “Sneasel!” Hikaru cried as it was hit. “Get up and use Metal Claw!”

Sneasel pushed itself up and snapped its claws as they turned metallic. Cynthia waited until it got closer and flicked her wrist. “Muddy Water.”

  As Sneasel got closer to Gastrodon, it launched a wave of murky brown water at the Sharp Claw Pokemon. The wave engulfed Sneasel before it had time to avoid it. Hikaru tightened his fist around Sneasel’spokeball as it landed on the ground not moving. He recalled the fainted pokemon without a word and walked off. Cynthia silently shook her head with a smile and recalled Gastrodon back into its ball.

  ‘He never changed.’ She chuckled to herself. Her smile fades and thought back to the reports of sightings of Team Dawn on the very island from Wallace when she met him earlier that day. ‘If the reports are true, they must want something from this island, but what?’

* * *

 

 “Good morning to my fine students and guest!” The headmaster enthusiastically greeted the gathered trainers in the auditorium the next morning. Surprisingly, not many students from Arata and Vanessa’s batch came that day. “As many of you know, we have two special guests visiting us today. Let’s give it up for Wallace and Cynthia, Champions of Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively!”

Loud cheers erupted from many of the trainers gathered in the room as the two champions gracefully stepped onto the stage. Wallace basked in the squeals of the female trainers and their begging for him to give them an autograph, meet their pokemon etc.

Cynthia rolled her eyes and subtly elbowed him. “You know Winona would not be happy to hear that you actually love the proclamations of the undying love for you by your fan girls here.” She whispered to him.

“I’m basking in their proclamations, not loving them.” Wallace corrected her with a bright smile.

 “I doubt that she’ll like it either way.” She muttered under her breath and turned to address the trainers. “For starters, we would like to thank all of you for coming here today and giving us the opportunity to speak here. As much as we are busy with our duties as champions, we are very glad that we had the time to visit all of you.”

“I must say that this is an excellent time to assess the strength of the next generation of trainers.” Wallace continued. “And now...”

  “I must say, he’s got more frills than guts.” A red haired girl beside Vanessa whispered softly enough to avoid being heard by the fan girls but loud enough for her to hear.

  Vanessa glanced at the girl and nodded. “I hear you. Diantha is my home region’s champion and a movie star she’s nowhere as frivolous as him.”

  The girls grinned at her an extended her hand. “I’m Ran from Mr Yamano’s batch. And you are?”

  “Vanessa.” She shook the hand. “And I’m from Miss Reina’s batch.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Ran looked back at the stage and shook her head. “Man, I can’t believe those girls are still acting like six year olds. Wallace is too much of a show off but I like Cynthia although it’s probably due to the fact she’s my home region champion.”

 “So you’re from Sinnoh?”

  “Pastoria City to be exact.” Ran winked. “And you must be from Kalos since Diantha is your region champion.”

   “Yup, I’m from Lumiose City.”

   They turned their attention back to the stage where Wallace had released his Whiscash to explain the ‘wonders of how a move can create a beautiful image’ as he put it. This was proven when he had his Whiscash use Waterfall on the mini pool on the stage set up for the day. The captivating scene had enthralled everyone including Cynthia and Ran.

  “Haunter.” Haunt suddenly appeared on Vanessa’s shoulder and grunted something in her ear making her roll her eyes.

  “No Haunt. Just behave yourself for today and _no tricks_.”

  Haunt pouted and waved its hands around in protest. Vanessa however shook her head. “For the last time, please behave yourself or I’ll shut you in your pokeball for the rest of the week.”

  Haunt was not fazed by the threat but it complied with its trainer’s request and floated over to Rio who was called out by Arata to observe Cynthia’s Lucario which she released to show it to the trainers.

  “Is he the troublemaker of your team?” Ran giggled.

  “You could say that.” Vanessa shook her head but there was a smile on her face.

* * *

 

  While everyone was in the auditorium, no one was aware of the intruders that were sneaking into the school from the roof. They lowered themselves down by ropes and the leader, a man in his late twenties and were wearing a yellow suit with orange accents and green hair pointing in all direction, gestured down one of the corridors and pointed at one of the grunts. “Go to the pokemon storage room and steal all the pokemon there. The rest of you, head to the auditorium and await my orders.”

  The grunts, all dressed in a yellow catsuit and red hair shaped like an upside down cone, nodded at the leader and complied with his orders. The leader took out an earpiece from his pocket and pressed the blinking button. “This is Dusk reporting in. We have successfully infiltrated the school.”

_“Good. Proceed with the plan with caution.”_ The person on the other side told Dusk.

    “Yes Master.” Dusk replaced the ear piece in his pocket and proceeded to the auditorium.

* * *

 

  Meanwhile, the grunt that was assigned to steal the pokemon from the storage room had swept most of the pokeballs in the shelves into the bag he was holding when the door opened and Nurse Joy stepped in. She stopped short when she saw the grunt.

  Who are you and what are you doing here?” She demanded.

  The grunt cursed under his breath for his mistake and shovelled her away in an attempt to escape.

  “Chansey!” Chansey quickly ran over to Nurse Joy and helped her up.

  Nurse Joy looked back at the storage and gasped in horror. “Oh no! The pokemon have been stolen...Chansey, activate the alarm!”

Chansey nodded and pressed a button on the side of the wall. Instantly, alarms rang out throughout the entire campus and metal shutters closed down on the windows and doors. The roof had an extra layer of metal, covering up the entrance and exit of the intruders.

* * *

 

  Inside the auditorium, the alarms began to blare loudly, startling everyone. The headmaster jumped and ran out of the doors mumbling something about his fears coming true. Cynthia and Wallace exchanged glances and called back their pokemon, following the headmaster out.

“Headmaster, what’s happening?” Cynthia asked once they caught up.

“I don’t know, but I hope that it really is not Team Dawn. After I was warned of the sightings of Team Dawn on the island, I installed new security measures should they ever attack the school and put the whole school on lockdown for six hours…I just did not expect it to really happen!” The headmaster said and wriggled his hands in frustration.

  “Where was the alarm sounded?” Wallace inquired.

  “Let’s see,” The headmaster pulled out his pokegear and activated it. “It looks like it came from…the pokemon storage room!”

  They soon arrived at the storage room where Nurse Joy was waiting worriedly.

  “Nurse Joy, what happened?”

 “Someone broke into the storage room and stole the pokemon inside!” She told them frantically.

  “Did you see where the thief went to?” Cynthia asked.

  “I can’t say for sure, but I think he went through the same way you came from.”

“Do you think he’s headed to the auditorium?” Wallace voiced their fears.

“I hope not. But we have to go back and check on the students.”

  “You go ahead. I’ll try to find the thief.” Cynthia offered.

    “Alright.” Wallace nodded and he and the headmaster ran back to the auditorium. Cynthia reached for a pokeball in her pocket and called out her second favourite pokemon.

* * *

 

**_Vs Slugma_ **

  Rio whimpered and huddled closer to Arata as the alarms continued to blare and the lights flickered every now and then. Seeing this, Arata knelt down and rubbed its back. “Don’t worry Rio, it’ll be over soon.”

 He looked around for Haunt but it had disappeared as soon as the alarms sounded. Suddenly, Rio pulled him aside just as a Flamethrower was fired at the place he was standing earlier.

  “What was that!?”

  “Eek! Look at that!” A girl pointed at a Slugma not too far from where Arata was before. However, there was something wrong with it. Its skin was a sickly black colour and its eyes were green with a malicious look making Arata shiver as he got up warily.

    “Alright listen up!” Everyone looked up to the once empty podium to see Dusk and his grunts beside him. “Give us all of your pokemon and we will leave you in peace. But if you resist, we won’t hesitated to kill you to get your pokemon!” With that, the grunts sent out several Houndooms and Mightyenas, thankfully normal in colour. Some trainers tried to send out their pokemons but the Pokemon bit down on them before they could.

  Vanessa clenched her jaw as the students howled in pain. Just then, Haunt materialized beside her. Thankfully, Ran was obstructing it so no one saw it. “Haunt.” She whispered in surprise. “I’m glad to see you here.”

It grinned and grunted a few things in her ear. She smiled and nodded. “For once, I like your trick ideas. Go on and set up the trick.”

  It gave her a thumbs up and disappeared just as a Houndoom looked at its direction.

  “Just curious, but what is your Haunter planning?” Ran asked.

“You’ll see.” Vanessa said with a grin. “Let’s just say it has a few childhood pranks in mind.”

* * *

 

“What is taking him so long?” Dusk growled as he tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the grunt he sent to steal the pokemon.Neither he nor the grunts noticed the contraption that was being set up behind them thanks to a well know pranking Haunter. But Arata did notice it and hugged Rio closer to his chest. It would only be a matter of time before the grunts came over and demanded him to hand over his pokemon.

  ‘Over my dead body.’ He thought fiercely. He desperately hoped that Haunt would hurry.

  “You should relax a bit. You’re suffocating Rio.” Vanessa whispered to him. Aratajumped and immediately loosened his grip.

  “Vanessa, when did you get here?”

“Just a few seconds a go. Have faith in Haunt. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “I do have faith in him. I just wish that he’ll hurry up.”

  “You know that he cannot rush it or he’ll be found.” Vanessa said with a pointed stare. Haunt suddenly appeared on her shoulder, making her jump and catching the attention of a female grunt and her Mightyena.

  “Hey you two, return your pokemon in their balls and hand them over!”

  “Vanessa…” Arata said warily.

  “Haunt.” Vanessa nodded. It grinned and took out a remote control from its mouth. The grunt tilted her head to the side suspiciously. Haunt merely waved it at her and pressed the button. Instantly, a net dropped down on Dusk and water balloons dropped down from the ceiling, drenching everyone in the hall. Haunt laughed at the soaked Houndooms and Mightyenas who were desperately shaking themselves, trying to get all the water out of their furs.

  “What in the blazes is happening!?” Dusk roared.

“It’s her!” The female grunt pointed at Vanessa. “Her Haunter caused the commotion!”

  “Haunt, do you have anything else on hand that can be useful now?” Vanessa cried as Arata pulled her away just inches from a Mightyena’s jaws. Haunt pulled out several smoke bomb candies from its mouth and threw them at the Mightyena and the Slugma as it inched closer to them. With the smoke as a cover, it used Shadow Punch to take down the Mightyena. However, it did not notice the Slugma approaching it from behind until it shot a Flamethrower at it.

“Jellicent, protect Haunter!” Ran threw out a pokeball in front of Slugma. The Flamethrower bounced off the Floating Pokemon harmlessly.

  “Thanks Ran.” Vanessa called.

“Rio, use Focus Blast!”

  Rio jumped into the air and fired at the Slugma but it barely scratched it. Many of the trainers began to send out their pokemon to deal with the Mightyenas and Houndooms. But the trio in the centre of the hall paid no mind to them as they focused their efforts on the Slugma.

  “Jellicent, Brine!”

  “Rio, Focus Blast again!”

  “Haunt, use Nightshade!”

  The Slugma managed to avoid the attacks and slithered back to Dusk who had thrown the net off him and his cheeks were red in fury. “Men retreat! They can do nothing now with most of their pokemon in our hands.”

“Too bad.” A voice made him spin on his feet to face the Sinnoh Champion with her Lucario at her side. The grunt he sent to steal the pokemon was beaten up at her feet. “I had returned the stolen pokemon back to the storage room. I suggest that you turn yourself in or we will have no choice but to do this the hard way.”

“We?”

  “I believe she means us.” Wallace dropped down from the hole in the ceiling where they Team Dawn came from with his Seaking beside him. “Pardon for the intrusion.”

  “About time you got here.” Cynthia rolled her eyes. “Lucario, use Aura Sphere!”

Lucario raised its hands in front of it and a blue sphere formed. It sent the sphere flying into Slugma who was pushed back by the impact.

  “Charles, show them the beauty of your Waterfall!”

Wallance’sSeaking spun around and a spurt of water rose before splashing down on Dusk which sent him flying into a wall.

  The female grunt who had cornered Vanessa and Arata growled. “Mightyena get them!” She screamed, pointing at Vanessa and Arata.

  Vanessa’s eyes became wide and quickly pushed Arata out of the way before jumping away herself. The Mightyena skidded to a stop and changed its direction at Vanessa, baring its fangs. She squeezed her eyes shut and brought up her arm to protect her. But before it could land its fangs in her arm, she felt something fly past her and knocked Mightyena away.

  Vanessa peaked over her arm and was shock to see a Swellow standing in front of her with its wings still glowing after delivering that Wing Attack on the Mightyena.

  Mikhail came over and helped her up.“Are you alright?”

 “Yeah, somehow.” Vanessa answered shakily. “Thanks for saving me.”

  Mikhail nodded and whipped his head at the Mightyena. “Swellow, send it back with Whirlwind!”

Swellow flew up and started flapping its wings causing a huge gust of wind. Mightyena could barely stand the strength of the wind and literally flew back into its pokeball. It soon became apparent that the grunt only had one pokemon when no pokemon came out afterwards. Ran’s Jellicent floated forward and wrapped its tentacles around her so that she could not escape.

  In front, the champions were making a good work with the grunts. Soon, many of the students who still had their pokemon sent them out and they quickly rounded up the grunts.

  Cynthia smirked and turned to Dusk. “I suggest that you surrender now. You are no match for all of us.”

  Dusk glared at her as he stood up and Slugma slithered to his side. “You have yet to see the last of Team Dawn! That I can assure you! Slugma, Smokescreen!”

Slugma opened its mouth and smoke poured out from it. Everyone soon could not see anything.

  “Lucario, don’t let them escape! Sense them out with the aura and use Bone Rush!” Cynthia ordered.

Lucario closed its eyes and its headbands straightened as it used to aura to locate Dusk and Slugma. But strangely, it could not find them although it is certain that they are still somewhere in the auditorium. Cynthia frowned when she realized this. ‘How did they manage to hide themselves from Lucario?’

  “Swellow, Defog!” Mikhail coughed out. Swellow beat its wings and blew away the smoke in a few seconds. But neither Dusk nor Slugma were to be seen; only the grunts were left.

“He got away.” Wallace sighed.

  “At least we can question the grunts though I doubt that they know much or won’t talk at all.” Cynthia remarked. “Where is the headmaster?”

  “Gone to call the mainland and lift the lockdown.”

  “Something is strange about that Slugma. There was something seriously wrong with it.” Cynthia said with a serious frown.

  “I agree. The colour is wrong and it’s too powerful for a Slugma.” Wallace agreed with an equally serious look. “I’ll alert the Pokemon Association to be more careful of Team Dawn.”

  “I’ll do the same for Sinnoh.” She looked at her watch and sighed. “I have to go now. Give my regards to Winona and Steven.”

  Wallace nodded and they recalled their pokemon as the students filed out of the hall.

* * *

 

_“You have failed me.”_

Dusk winced, knowing what was to come. “I have no excuses other than we underestimated a few students which resulted of our loss.”

_“Which ones?”_

“The two trainers from Lumiose City…the ones who were working with Professor Sycamore.” Dusk said nervously.

  The line was silent for a while before the person spoke, _“I see. I’ll let Beta 1 and Beta 2 take care of them. For now, pull back and return.”_

“Yes sir.”

* * *

 

**_Vs Beheeyem_ **

_“Haven’t you found a trainer to help you evolve Haunt?”_ Vanessa’s mother asked when she called a few weeks after the incident with Team Dawn.

  “Actually, I have a friend who agreed to trade his Porygon with Haunt so that they’ll evolve and then we’ll trade back. That way his Porygon will become Porygon 2 after the first trade and then Porygon Z but we haven’t picked a date to do so since we have been busy with our upcoming examinations.” Vanessa explained with a sigh at the last part.

_“Good luck in them. By the way, did you receive the package from Professor Sycamore yet?”_

   “Yeah, Arata is going through the contents now but we’re not sure if it is a good idea to keep them here after what happened last month with Team Dawn invading the school.” Vanessa said, expressing her worries. “We could barely hold them off. It was only thanks to the champions that no one was badly hurt.”

_“Well, we are sure that if anything happens, you and Arata can protect the Mega Stones. But if you really are worried, you can always bring them back next month.”_ She offered.

  “We’ll think about it. I’ll talk to you again in the weekend. Bye.”

_“Bye.”_

  As the screen went black, Vanessa rubbed her temples to dispel the headache coming. It was not long before Arata joined her at the table with a notebook in hand. “I’ve identified some of the Mega Stones but some of them are hard to do so since they probably belong to pokemon we have yet to know that can mega evolve.”

  “Let’s hear it.” Vanessa pulled her legs up and hugged them close to her chest.

Arata nodded and went through his list. “So far, we have Ampharosnite, courtesy of Lysander, Absolite, Charizardite X and Y...”

  “There are two Charizardites?” Vanessa cut in.

Arata nodded. “Yup. Mom labelled them such.”

  Vanessa’s mouth formed an ‘o’ in understanding and gestured for him to continue. Arata looked back at his list, “And we have Heracronite and Houndoominite.”

  “Also you have your Lucarionite from Korrina...”

  “...And your Gengaritefrom that Hex Maniac in Laverre City.” Arata finished for her. “Therefore, we have altogether eight Mega Stones on hand.”

 “All we have to do is wait for Rio and Haunt to evolve to see what Mega Evolve does to them.” Vanessa said and looked at Haunt’s pokeball.

  “So are you going to do the trade with Kageto today?”

  “No,” Vanessa shook her head. “I already told Mikhail that I’ll study with him later.”

Arata smirked at this and leaned forward casually. “I noticed that the both of you have gotten close lately. Anything going on between the both of you?”

  Vanessa tried not to blush. “Of course not! He’s just...well...”

  “Well?” Arata tilted his head.

  Vanessa sighed in defeat and rested her hands on the table. “I admit that I may have a crush on him but I don’t really know if I want to act on it.”

“I think you should.” Arata advised. “There’s nothing wrong with taking risks and following your feelings.”

    Vanessa stared at him in disbelief. “Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?”

Arata held up his hands in defence. “I’m just repeating Yuno’s words! She said that you two make a cute couple, not that I actually understand.”

  “So she set you up to get me to talk about Mikhail?”

  “Sort of.” Arata shrugged. “She came up with the couple thing to me and I decided to ask you about it.”

  Vanessa groaned and hit her head on the table. “Why me?!”

  “Don’t ask me, ask her. By the way, he’s coming in at two o’clock.” Arata nodded at the direction Mikhail is coming to the table. He closed his notebook and winked at her. “Good luck with your study session.” He pat her shoulder and went back to his room.

  “Great.” Vanessa muttered as she straightened herself as Mikhail sat down beside her.

  “Did I miss anything?” He asked with an amused smile.

  “Nope. Just the friendly banter between me and Arata after going through my mother’s package for us.” Vanessa shook her head and pulled out her textbook. She almost missed the slight frown on Mikhail’s face but when she looked again, it was gone.

“So can we start?” Mikhail asked as he too took out his textbooks.

  “Sure.” Vanessa nodded.

* * *

 

  “Rio, would it make any sense that I’m not one bit jealous that Vanessa chooses to hang out with Mikhail instead of helping me sort out the Mega Stones?” Arata wondered to his pokemon as he placed each Mega Stone inside a slot of an orient decorated round box which came with the stones.

  Rio sat up on the bed and shrugged. “Riolurio.”

  “I guess you are right. Vanessa was never really a fan of researching. She just does it for her parents and for spending time with me.” Arata admitted. “Her real desire is to get stronger in pokemon battles and becoming a gym leader. So it would be logical that she’ll be around Mikhail more since he trains with her more often.”

 “Rio riolurio.” Rio frowned. It was missing its best friend due to Vanessa persuading it to join the training.

“I know you miss Haunt’s company but you have to admit, they’re having more fun like this.” Arata said as he closed the box.

  Rio jumped off the bed and nudged Arata with its Lucarionite that was hanging on its neck. Arata looked at it and back to Rio. He smiled and got the message. “You want to get strong too so that you can evolve into Lucario and Mega Evolve soon since Vanessa is planning to have Haunt evolve in the not too distant future.”

 Rio nodded eagerly and tugged on his hand. Arata chuckled and got up. “Alright, alright. I’m sure we can convince Braix to help you. Let me keep this first.”

  He placed the box under his bed and covered it with a few other boxes. “Let’s go.”

  He and Rio left and made sure that he locked the door before heading to the forest.

* * *

 

Muraku waited until Arata was out of the building before emerging from his own room with his Beheeyem beside him. Making sure that no one was around the corridor, he strode over to Arata’s room door. “Beheeyem, open it with Psychic.”

Beheeyem nodded and stretched its arm to the door and it opened. Muraku glanced down the corridor again and went inside. “Find the Mega Stones.”

Beheeyem floated around the room for a while and pointed under the bed. Muraku smirked and searched the boxes. He eventually found the Mega Stone box and opened it. Under normal circumstances, it would be logical to take all of the stones but Muraku knew better than to do that. Instead he took four of them including the Charizardite X and the Houndoominite. He replaced the box and nodded at his pokemon. “Ransack the place. We need to make sure he finds out about it as soon as possible.”

Beheeyem nodded and used its psychic powers to pull open drawers and mess up everything. Then it opened the window and locked the door to make it look like someone came in from the window. Muraku nodded at his pokemon’s handy work and it teleported him back to his room. Before leaving his room he gave his pokemon some last instructions. “Manipulate Haruki’s memory so that he’ll think he saw me somewhere else. I’m going to complete the last part of the plan.”

* * *

 

  “Thanks for studying with me Mikhail.” Vanessa thanked as they tidied up their books.

  “No problem. I’m glad to help.” Mikhail said. “By the way, I heard from Kageto that you are planning to trade pokemon to have them evolve.”

  “Yeah, but we’ve been busy recently so we haven’t found the time to carry it out.” Vanessa admitted.

  “How ‘bout we do this? I’ll temporary trade Nuzleaf for Porygon with him and carry out the trade with you since we’re spending more time together studying for the next few days.” Mikhail suggested.

  Vanessa shook her head in protest. “There’s no need to do that. I can wait for a while and...”

  “I insist.” Mikhail said firmly.

  “But...” Vanessa trailed off and sighed. “Look, it’s not that I’m not ungrateful or anything, it’s just that you’ve always being doing so much for me that I feel that I owe you too much.”

   Much to her surprise, Mikhail shook his head with a laugh. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind helping you one bit. But if you feel that way, then why don’t you even it by going with me to the Melody Cafe afterwards?”

  Vanessa’s hand flew to her mouth as her cheeks went red. “...As a date?”

  “If you want it that way.”

  “I would rather an outing with a friend.” Vanessa mumbled. “Alright. But I need to go back to my room and put down my books.”

  But as she turned to go upstairs, Mikhail grabbed her arm to stop her. “No don’t!”

  Vanessa spun around and gave him a confuse look as to why he didn’t want her to go to her room. Mikhail realised his mistake and softened his tone. “Sorry, but the cafe will close in an hour and they always take a long time to prepare our orders so I would rather we go now before it closes.”

  “I won’t be long.” Vanessa insisted. Inside, she was suspicious as to why Mikhail was trying to dissuade her from heading back to her room.

  “But we will have less time to spend at the cafe. Look, you can leave your books with mine in my locker for the time being. You can get them back when we return.” Mikhail said, pointing at his locker at the corner of the room.

   Vanessa looked unconvinced but decided to listen to him. “Alright. Here.”

  She gave him her books and he gladly placed them inside his locker. When he had his back to her, he let out a relief smile that she was not going upstairs. It would be bad if she saw what Muraku was doing when she passes by the boys’ floor. Although he knew that Beheeyem could erase her memory in case that happens, but he would rather not put her through it.

* * *

 

**_Vs Riolu_ **

  “That’s it Rio.” Arata encouraged it as it took blows from Braix. “Just keep it up. Your endurance is already improving.”

 Rio grunted and stood its ground as Braix used Flamethrower at point blank range. It jumped up and sent a Focus Blast at Braix but it merely knocked it away. Braix unleashed a barge of Will-o-wisp at it which was dodged except for one. Rio grimaced at the burn and landed on the ground roughly.

  “Alright, that’s enough for today.” Arata declared. “Braix, thank you for offering to help Rio in his quest to get stronger. Take a rest now.” He said and recalled it. He turned to Rio with an encouraging smile. “And you did great. Keep it up and I’m sure that you’ll evolve into Lucario in no time.”

  “Rio.” Rio grinned but winced as the burn started hurting. Arata quickly took out a burn heal and sprayed it on the burn wounds.

  “There. We’ll have Nurse Joy to take care of the rest of them.”

* * *

 

“Thank you for healing them Nurse Joy.” Arata thanked her and took back his pokemon.

  “My pleasure. Please come again.” Nurse Joy bowed.

  “Rio.” Arata called it out. It scrambled to his side as he went up to his room. As he got closer to his room, he saw Muraku leaning against the wall in the corridor. “Oh, Muraku.”

Muraku looked up and nodded back in greeting. “I see that you have been training.”

  “Yup.” Arata bobbed his head. “I’m looking forward to a rematch with you.”

  “So am I.” Muraku said quietly and pushed himself off the wall and headed downstairs.

Arata cocked his head at Rio. “Cheery, isn’t he?”

  Rio shook his head although he did not like what he was feeling from Muraku though. It was almost as if he has a dark persona or something.

  As soon as Arata unlocked his door and went inside, he knew something was wrong. The entire room was ransacked. Clothes and books were tossed carelessly on the floor and boxes containing his research files were emptied.

  “What in the world happened?” Arata muttered worriedly. Rio shrugged beside him although it was feeling worried as well. Arata surveyed the room and quietly cleaned it up while making sure that nothing was missing. But when he came to his bed, he noticed that the boxes underneath were mostly untouched which made him suspicious. A cold dread ran down his spine and he quickly pulled out the box containing the Mega Stones. His heart dropped when he realised there were several stones missing.

“Oh no.”

* * *

 

 “So how do you deal with your parents being researchers?” Mikhail asked curiously as he and Vanessa sipped their tea in the cafe he recommended.

  “Oh, it’s simple. Just be the good daughter and they’ll give you plenty of privileges.” Vanessa laughed. “But Haunt tends to make that hard though.”

  “I can imagine that.” Mikhail chuckled. “But you once said that you want to be a gym leader. Wouldn’t they want you to be a researcher like them?”

  “Initially, yes.” Vanessa shrugged. “I had to put up a fight to make them accept what I want to be but a little encouragement from Aunt Olympia and Professor Sycamore made them change their minds. The life of a researcher is not as simple as many think. It’s full of deadlines and long term research. Sometimes you even have to leave for an extended period.”

  “I see.” Mikhail closed his eyes as he tried to push away the memories of the childhood he wish he never experienced.

  Vanessa clasped her hands together and rested her chin on them. “I just realised that I told you a lot about myself but I don’t know much about you.”

  Mikhail avoided her gaze by looking down. “I don’t like to talk about my past. It’s not very pleasant.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine. The only good thing that came out of all of it is that I met Muraku and my pokemon. Muraku may not look like it, but he’s a good person. Many people misunderstand him because of his cool and serious demure. But he helped me though my difficult past.” Mikhail said and took a sip of his tea.

   Vanessa looked away, thinking of how easy her childhood was compare to what Mikhail was implying of his. Rio suddenly burst inside and ran to her table. Vanessa looked at it in surprise as it waved its hands and tugged at her hand. “Did something happened Rio?”

  Rio nodded and continued to tug on her hand urgently. Vanessa frowned and got up. “Sorry Mikhail, but I have to go. I’ll see you at dinner.”

  Mikhail nodded in understanding. “Don’t worry, I understand.”

  Vanessa gulped down her tea and followed Rio out. Once the door closed behind her, Muraku came in and sat down at Mikhail’s table. “Good job in keeping her away from the dorms.”

  Mikhail shrugged and drowned down his cup. “I did like you said, gain her trust and she’ll agree to come here with me although I think she suspects something.”

  “That does not matter now.” Muraku looked around before continuing in hushed tones. “I placed the trackers on the Mega Stones. When they find them, they’ll be worried of another repeat and will no doubt send them back to their parents. Dusk will take over from there.”

  “What should we do now?” Mikhail whispered.

  “Remove any suspicions from us. I have done what I can to have an alibi and so do you. But if what you said about Vanessa being suspicious of you is true, shake them off. You might find it easy if you use her feelings for you.”

  Mikhail frowned. “I don’t like it.”

  “I know. But we must do whatever it takes to succeed.” Muraku told him. “Be mindful of your feelings too. I can tell that you are falling for her.”

  Mikhail quietly nodded and left a few notes beside his cup. “Let’s go.”

* * *

 

   “Arata!” Vanessa called when she spotted him pacing beside the dorms where Rio led her. “What’s wrong?”

Arata sighed and stopped pacing. “I went back into my room when you had your study session with Mikhail and placed the Mega Stones inside a box. After that, I went out to train Rio. When I came back, my room was ransacked.”

  “What!?” Vanessa exclaimed. “Was anything taken?”

  “Yes.” Arata nodded gravely. “Some of the Mega Stones were taken.”

  “The Mega Stones!?” Vanessa gasped. “But...how did the thief get in?”

  “Through the window I suppose but that is strange because I’m sure I locked it and the door before I went out.”

  Vanessa shook her head. “Then no doubt he used a pokemon.”

 “My thoughts exactly.” Arata nodded in agreement. “Problem now is how are we going to find the person who took them and where did he hid them.”

  “Maybe we can ask Professor Sycamore for help.” Vanessa suggested.

  “And get our ears full of a lecture?” Arata deadpanned.

  “We have to do something or there will be a worse lecture the more we prolong it.” Vanessa pointed out.

“You’re probably right.” Arata sighed. “We’ll call him after dinner...and hope mom made spaghetti for his dinner. We’ll tell him about the stolen Mega Stones and see if he has any idea if we can track them down somehow. Oh, and not a word to anyone about this.”

  “Good idea.” They pretended to zip their lips shut and went back to the dorms.

  “Do you think Team Dawn is behind this again?” Vanessa suddenly asked.

  “I don’t know. But it does not seem characteristic of them to do something this subtle. I mean, they do like to make a grand entrance, don’t they?”

“Yeah.” Vanessa drawled. “But you never know. Anyway, let’s get dinner over with and call the good professor.”

 

 

 


End file.
